Generating differences for tuple attributes

ABSTRACT

A sequence of tuples, each having one or more attributes, is received at one of one or more processing elements operating on one or more processors. Each processing element may have one or more stream operators. A first stream operator may be identified as one that only processes an instance of a first attribute in a currently received tuple when a difference between an instance of the first attribute in a previously received tuple and the instance of the first attribute in the currently received tuple is outside of a difference threshold. A second stream operator may generate a difference attribute from a first instance of the first attribute in a first one of the received tuples and a second instance of the first attribute in a second one of the received tuples. The difference attribute may be transmitted from the second stream operator to the first stream operator.

FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to stream computing, and inparticular, to computing applications that receive streaming data andprocess the data as it is received.

BACKGROUND

Database systems are typically configured to separate the process ofstoring data from accessing, manipulating, or using data stored in adatabase. More specifically, database systems use a model in which datais first stored and indexed in a memory before subsequent querying andanalysis. In general, database systems may not be well suited forperforming real-time processing and analyzing streaming data. Inparticular, database systems may be unable to store, index, and analyzelarge amounts of streaming data efficiently or in real time.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the disclosure provide a method and system for processingtuples. The method and system are directed to processing tuples on oneor more computer processors. Each tuple may have one or more attributes.

In an embodiment, a method includes receiving at one of one or moreprocessing elements a sequence of two or more tuples to be processed bythe processing elements. Each processing element may have one or morestream operators. In addition, the method may include identifying that afirst stream operator only processes an instance of a first attribute ina currently received tuple when a difference between an instance of thefirst attribute in a previously received tuple and the instance of thefirst attribute in the currently received tuple is outside of adifference threshold. The method may also include generating, at asecond stream operator, a difference attribute from a first instance ofthe first attribute in a first one of the received tuples and a secondinstance of the first attribute in a second one of the received tuples.Further, the method may include transmitting the difference attributefrom the second stream operator to the first stream operator.

In an embodiment, a method includes receiving at one of one or moreprocessing elements a sequence of two or more tuples to be processed bythe processing elements. Each processing element may have one or morestream operators. In addition, the method may include identifying that afirst stream operator only processes an instance of a first attribute ina currently received tuple when a difference between an instance of thefirst attribute in a previously received tuple and the instance of thefirst attribute in the currently received tuple is outside of adifference threshold. The method may also include generating, at asecond stream operator, a difference attribute from a first instance ofthe first attribute in a first one of the received tuples and a secondinstance of the first attribute in a second one of the received tuples.Further, the method may include determining whether the differenceattribute is outside of the difference threshold and transmitting thedifference attribute from the second stream operator to the first streamoperator when the difference attribute is outside of the differencethreshold.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a computing infrastructure configured to execute astream computing application according to various embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a more detailed view of a compute node of FIG. 1according to various embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates a more detailed view of the management system of FIG.1 according to various embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a more detailed view of the compiler system of FIG. 1according to various embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an operator graph for a stream computing applicationaccording to various embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates a portion of the operator graph according to variousembodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates a method for configuring stream operators in anoperator graph according to various embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates a method for generating tuple difference attributesin a stream computing application according to various embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates a method for receiving difference tuple attributes ina stream computing application according to various embodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates an alternative method for receiving tuple differenceattributes in a stream computing application according to variousembodiments.

FIG. 11 illustrates a method for determining whether to deploy a tupledifference process in a stream computing application according tovarious embodiments.

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicatelike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Stream-based computing and stream-based database computing are emergingas a developing technology for database systems. Products are availablewhich allow users to create applications that process and querystreaming data before it reaches a database file. With this emergingtechnology, users can specify processing logic to apply to inbound datarecords while they are “in flight,” with the results available in a veryshort amount of time, often in fractions of a second. Constructing anapplication using this type of processing has opened up a newprogramming paradigm that will allow for development of a broad varietyof innovative applications, systems, and processes, as well as presentnew challenges for application programmers and database developers.

In a stream computing application, stream operators are connected to oneanother such that data flows from one stream operator to the next (e.g.,over a TCP/IP socket). An application is distributed across nodes bycreating executables, which may be referred to as “processing elements.”Scalability is achieved by replicating processing elements on multiplenodes and load balancing among them. Stream operators in a streamcomputing application can be fused together to form a processing elementthat is executable. Doing so allows processing elements to share acommon process space, resulting in much faster communication betweenstream operators than is available using inter-process communicationtechniques (e.g., using a TCP/IP socket). Further, processing elementscan be inserted or removed dynamically from an operator graphrepresenting the flow of data through the stream computing application.In various embodiments, a particular stream operator may not residewithin the same operating system process as other stream operators. Inaddition, stream operators in the same operator graph may be hosted ondifferent nodes, e.g., on different compute nodes or on different coresof a compute node.

Data flows from one stream operator to another in the form of a “tuple.”A tuple is a sequence of one or more attributes associated with anentity. Attributes may be any of a variety of different types, e.g.,integer, float, Boolean, string, etc. An attribute may be a file, e.g.,image or audio data. The attributes may be ordered. In addition toattributes associated with an entity, a tuple may include metadata,i.e., data about the tuple. A tuple may be extended by adding one ormore additional attributes or metadata to it. As used herein, “stream”or “data stream” refers to a sequence of tuples. Generally, a stream maybe considered a pseudo-infinite sequence of tuples.

Tuples are received and output by stream operators and processingelements. When a stream operator receives a tuple, it may performoperations, such as analysis logic, which can change the tuple by addingor subtracting attributes, or updating the values of existing attributeswithin the tuple. A stream operator may perform operations on fewer thanall of the attributes of a tuple it receives. In some applications, astream operator may perform operations on an attribute only if theparticular instance of the attribute has changed from an instance of theattribute in a previously received tuple. When the analysis logic isdone, a new tuple is then sent to the next stream operator. An inputtuple corresponding with a particular entity that is received by astream operator or processing element, however, is generally notconsidered to be the same tuple that is output by the stream operator orprocessing element, even when the output tuple corresponds with the sameentity or data as the input tuple. It is not required, however, that anoutput tuple be changed in some way from the input tuple.

Nonetheless, an output tuple may be changed in some way by a streamoperator or processing element. An attribute or metadata may be added,deleted, or changed. For example, a tuple will often have two or moreattributes. A stream operator or processing element may receive thetuple having multiple attributes and output a new tuple correspondingwith the input tuple. The stream operator or processing element may onlychange one of the attributes so that all of the attributes of the outputtuple except one are the same as the attributes of the input tuple.

Generally, a particular tuple output by a stream operator or processingelement may not be considered to be the same tuple as a correspondinginput tuple even if the input tuple is not changed by the processingelement. Because an output tuple may be considered a different tuplefrom a corresponding input tuple, a parent-child scheme may be usefulfor tracking tuple flow in an operator graph. In an exemplary scheme,any tuple may be designated a parent tuple. For example, a tupleentering an operator graph or a tuple output by a source operator may bedesignated as a parent tuple. Generally, when a parent tuple is receivedby a stream operator or processing element, the output correspondingwith the input tuple may be designated a child of the parent. The childtuple may in turn be input to another stream operator or processingelement. The output from the second stream operator or processingelement corresponding with the input child tuple may also be designateda child of the parent, as further described below. In addition, asmentioned, any tuple may be designated a parent tuple. Accordingly, atuple that is a child of a parent tuple may itself be designated aparent tuple.

While a parent-child scheme may be useful for tracking tuple flow in anoperator graph in some contexts, in other contexts it may be simpler torefer to both an input tuple and a corresponding output tuple as thesame tuple.

In stream computing applications, the stream operators and processingelements of an operator graph may be distributed across multiple computenodes as well as within individual compute nodes. Processing elementsand stream operators in distinct processing elements may be connected byinter-process communication paths. An “inter-process communicationpath,” as used herein, may refer to operations that use a network andemploy an internet socket, such as a TCP/IP socket, a stream socket, adatagram socket, or any other similar operation. An inter-processcommunication path, as used herein, may also refer to operations thatemploy a shared memory segment, a pipe, a named pipe (also known as aFIFO), a message queue, a memory mapped file, a UNIX domain orinter-process communication socket, or any other similar operation.

Stream computing applications handle massive volumes of data that needto be processed efficiently and in real time. For example, a streamcomputing application may continuously ingest and analyze hundreds ofthousands of messages per second and up to petabytes of data per day.Accordingly, each stream operator in a stream computing application maybe required to process a received tuple within fractions of a second.Unless the stream operators are located in the same processing element,it is necessary to use an inter-process communication path each time atuple is sent from one stream operator to another. Inter-processcommunication paths can be a critical resource in a stream computingapplication. Various embodiments described in this document may conservethe available bandwidth on one or more inter-process communicationpaths. Efficient use of inter-process communication bandwidth can speedup processing.

The data ingested by some stream computing applications may not changefor a period of time, or may change slowly or by a small degree overtime. In some applications, a particular attribute of a tuple may remainconstant for a period of time or may only change in small increments. Asone example, an attribute of a tuple may be an image file generated byan image sensor in a stationary camera trained on a scene. The scene maybe of an infrequently visited area. The camera may capture and transmit30 frames per second. A tuple may contain an image attribute captured atan initial time. If the changes in the scene are small or nonexistentfor five seconds, the image attributes of 150 successive tuples wouldchange little or remain constant.

According to various embodiments, certain stream operators only processan attribute of a tuple when that attribute changes to a significantdegree. These stream operators are identified. More specifically, afirst stream operator that only processes an instance of a firstattribute in a currently received tuple when a difference between aninstance of the first attribute in a previously received tuple and theinstance of the first attribute in the currently received tuple isoutside of a difference threshold is identified. The “previouslyreceived tuple” may, but need not be the most recently received tuplehaving an instance of the first attribute. Differences betweensuccessive instances of the first attribute of tuples may be generatedat a second stream operator. The generated differences may betransmitted from the second stream operator to the first stream operatorin lieu of transmitting the full instances of the first attribute. Inaddition, before the first difference is transmitted, the first streamoperator may receive and store a reference instance of the firstattribute. The “reference instance” of the first attribute may be, forexample, an instance created at an initial time. The first streamoperator may then use one or more received differences and the storedreference instance of the first attribute to generate another instanceof the attribute. This generated instance of the attribute may be thesame or substantially the same as the instance of the attribute fromwhich one of the received differences was generated.

FIG. 1 illustrates one exemplary computing infrastructure 100 that maybe configured to execute a stream computing application, according tosome embodiments. The computing infrastructure 100 includes a managementsystem 105 and two or more compute nodes 110A-110D—i.e., hosts—which arecommunicatively coupled to each other using one or more communicationsnetworks 120. The communications network 120 may include one or moreservers, networks, or databases, and may use a particular communicationprotocol to transfer data between the compute nodes 110A-110D. Acompiler system 102 may be communicatively coupled with the managementsystem 105 and the compute nodes 110 either directly or via thecommunications network 120.

The communications network 120 may include a variety of types ofphysical communication channels or “links.” The links may be wired,wireless, optical, or any other suitable media. In addition, thecommunications network 120 may include a variety of network hardware andsoftware for performing routing, switching, and other functions, such asrouters, switches, or bridges. The communications network 120 may bededicated for use by a stream computing application or shared with otherapplications and users. The communications network 120 may be any size.For example, the communications network 120 may include a single localarea network or a wide area network of networks spanning a largegeographical area, such as the Internet. The links may provide differentlevels of bandwidth or capacity to transfer data at a particular rate.The bandwidth that a particular link provides may vary depending onnumerous factors, including the type of communication media and whetherparticular network hardware or software is functioning correctly or atfull capacity. In addition, the bandwidth that a particular linkprovides to a stream computing application may vary if the link isshared with other applications and users. The available bandwidth mayvary depending on the load placed on the link by the other applicationsand users. The bandwidth that a particular link provides may also varydepending on a temporal factor, such as time of day, day of week, day ofmonth, or season.

FIG. 2 is a more detailed view of a compute node 110, which may be thesame as one of the compute nodes 110A-110D of FIG. 1, according tovarious embodiments. The compute node 110 may include, withoutlimitation, one or more processors (CPUs) 205, a network interface 215,an interconnect 220, a memory 225, and a storage 230. The compute node110 may also include an I/O device interface 210 used to connect I/Odevices 212, e.g., keyboard, display, and mouse devices, to the computenode 110.

Each CPU 205 retrieves and executes programming instructions stored inthe memory 225 or storage 230. Similarly, the CPU 205 stores andretrieves application data residing in the memory 225. The interconnect220 is used to transmit programming instructions and application databetween each CPU 205, I/O device interface 210, storage 230, networkinterface 215, and memory 225. The interconnect 220 may be one or morebusses. The CPUs 205 may be a single CPU, multiple CPUs, or a single CPUhaving multiple processing cores in various embodiments. In anembodiment, a processor 205 may be a digital signal processor (DSP). Oneor more processing elements 235 (described below) may be stored in thememory 225. A processing element 235 may include one or more streamoperators 240 (described below). In an embodiment, a processing element235 is assigned to be executed by only one CPU 205, although in otherembodiments the stream operators 240 of a processing element 235 mayinclude one or more threads that are executed on two or more CPUs 205.The memory 225 is generally included to be representative of a randomaccess memory, e.g., Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic RandomAccess Memory (DRAM), or Flash. The storage 230 is generally included tobe representative of a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk drive,solid state device (SSD), or removable memory cards, optical storage,flash memory devices, network attached storage (NAS), or connections tostorage area network (SAN) devices, or other devices that may storenon-volatile data. The network interface 215 is configured to transmitdata via the communications network 120.

A stream computing application may include one or more stream operators240 that may be compiled into a “processing element” container 235. Thememory 225 may include two or more processing elements 235, eachprocessing element having one or more stream operators 240. Each streamoperator 240 may include a portion of code that processes tuples flowinginto a processing element and outputs tuples to other stream operators240 in the same processing element, in other processing elements, or inboth the same and other processing elements in a stream computingapplication. Processing elements 235 may pass tuples to other processingelements that are on the same compute node 110 or on other compute nodesthat are accessible via communications network 120. For example, aprocessing element 235 on compute node 110A may output tuples to aprocessing element 235 on compute node 110B.

The storage 230 may include a buffer 260. Although shown as being instorage, the buffer 260 may be located in the memory 225 of the computenode 110 or in a combination of both memories. Moreover, storage 230 mayinclude storage space that is external to the compute node 110, such asin a “cloud.”

The compute node 110 may include one or more operating systems 262. Anoperating system 262 may be stored partially in memory 225 and partiallyin storage 230. Alternatively, an operating system may be storedentirely in memory 225 or entirely in storage 230. The operating systemprovides an interface between various hardware resources, including theCPU 205, and processing elements and other components of the streamcomputing application. In addition, an operating system provides commonservices for application programs, such as providing a time function.

FIG. 3 is a more detailed view of the management system 105 of FIG. 1according to some embodiments. The management system 105 may include,without limitation, one or more processors (CPUs) 305, a networkinterface 315, an interconnect 320, a memory 325, and a storage 330. Themanagement system 105 may also include an I/O device interface 310connecting I/O devices 312, e.g., keyboard, display, and mouse devices,to the management system 105.

Each CPU 305 retrieves and executes programming instructions stored inthe memory 325 or storage 330. Similarly, each CPU 305 stores andretrieves application data residing in the memory 325 or storage 330.The interconnect 320 is used to move data, such as programminginstructions and application data, between the CPU 305, I/O deviceinterface 310, storage unit 330, network interface 315, and memory 325.The interconnect 320 may be one or more busses. The CPUs 305 may be asingle CPU, multiple CPUs, or a single CPU having multiple processingcores in various embodiments. In an embodiment, a processor 305 may be aDSP. Memory 325 is generally included to be representative of a randomaccess memory, e.g., SRAM, DRAM, or Flash. The storage 330 is generallyincluded to be representative of a non-volatile memory, such as a harddisk drive, solid state device (SSD), removable memory cards, opticalstorage, Flash memory devices, network attached storage (NAS),connections to storage area-network (SAN) devices, or the cloud. Thenetwork interface 315 is configured to transmit data via thecommunications network 120.

The memory 325 may store a stream manager 134, which is furtherdescribed below. Additionally, the memory 325 or storage 330 may storean operator graph 335. The operator graph 335 may define how tuples arerouted to processing elements 235 (FIG. 2) for processing.

The management system 105 may include one or more operating systems 332.An operating system 332 may be stored partially in memory 325 andpartially in storage 330. Alternatively, an operating system may bestored entirely in memory 325 or entirely in storage 330. The operatingsystem provides an interface between various hardware resources,including the CPU 305, and processing elements and other components ofthe stream computing application. In addition, an operating systemprovides common services for application programs, such as providing atime function.

FIG. 4 is a more detailed view of the compiler system 102 of FIG. 1according to some embodiments. The compiler system 102 may include,without limitation, one or more processors (CPUs) 405, a networkinterface 415, an interconnect 420, a memory 425, and storage 430. Thecompiler system 102 may also include an I/O device interface 410connecting I/O devices 412, e.g., keyboard, display, and mouse devices,to the compiler system 102.

Each CPU 405 retrieves and executes programming instructions stored inthe memory 425 or storage 430. Similarly, each CPU 405 stores andretrieves application data residing in the memory 425 or storage 430.The interconnect 420 is used to move data, such as programminginstructions and application data, between the CPU 405, I/O deviceinterface 410, storage unit 430, network interface 415, and memory 425.The interconnect 420 may be one or more busses. The CPUs 405 may be asingle CPU, multiple CPUs, or a single CPU having multiple processingcores in various embodiments. In an embodiment, a processor 405 may be aDSP. Memory 425 is generally included to be representative of a randomaccess memory, e.g., SRAM, DRAM, or Flash. The storage 430 is generallyincluded to be representative of a non-volatile memory, such as a harddisk drive, solid state device (SSD), removable memory cards, opticalstorage, flash memory devices, network attached storage (NAS),connections to storage area-network (SAN) devices, or to the cloud. Thenetwork interface 415 is configured to transmit data via thecommunications network 120.

The compiler system 102 may include one or more operating systems 432.An operating system 432 may be stored partially in memory 425 andpartially in storage 430. Alternatively, an operating system may bestored entirely in memory 425 or entirely in storage 430. The operatingsystem provides an interface between various hardware resources,including the CPU 405, and processing elements and other components ofthe stream computing application. In addition, an operating systemprovides common services for application programs, such as providing atime function.

The memory 425 may store a compiler 136. The compiler 136 compilesmodules, which include source code or statements, into the object code,which includes machine instructions that execute on a processor. In anembodiment, the compiler 136 may translate the modules into anintermediate form before translating the intermediate form into objectcode. The compiler 136 may output a set of deployable artifacts that mayinclude a set of processing elements and an application descriptionlanguage file (ADL file), which is a configuration file that describesthe stream computing application. In some embodiments, the compiler 136may be a just-in-time compiler that executes as part of an interpreter.In other embodiments, the compiler 136 may be an optimizing compiler. Invarious embodiments, the compiler 136 may perform peepholeoptimizations, local optimizations, loop optimizations, inter-proceduralor whole-program optimizations, machine code optimizations, or any otheroptimizations that reduce the amount of time required to execute theobject code, to reduce the amount of memory required to execute theobject code, or both. The output of the compiler 136 may be representedby an operator graph, e.g., the operator graph 335.

The compiler 136 may also provide the application administrator with theability to optimize performance through profile-driven fusionoptimization. Fusing operators may improve performance by reducing thenumber of calls to a transport. While fusing stream operators mayprovide faster communication between operators than is available usinginter-process communication techniques, any decision to fuse operatorsrequires balancing the benefits of distributing processing acrossmultiple compute nodes with the benefit of faster inter-operatorcommunications. The compiler 136 may automate the fusion process todetermine how to best fuse the operators to be hosted by one or moreprocessing elements, while respecting user-specified constraints. Thismay be a two-step process, including compiling the application in aprofiling mode and running the application, then re-compiling and usingthe optimizer during this subsequent compilation. The end result may,however, be a compiler-supplied deployable application with an optimizedapplication configuration.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary operator graph 500 for a streamcomputing application beginning from one or more sources 135 through toone or more sinks 504, 506, according to some embodiments. This flowfrom source to sink may also be generally referred to in this documentas an execution path. In addition, a flow from one processing element toanother may be referred to as an execution path in various contexts.Although FIG. 5 is abstracted to show connected processing elementsPE1-PE10, the operator graph 500 may include data flows between streamoperators 240 (FIG. 2) within the same or different processing elements.Typically, processing elements, such as processing element 235 (FIG. 2),receive tuples from the stream as well as output tuples into the stream(except for a sink—where the stream terminates, or a source—where thestream begins). While the operator graph 500 includes a relatively smallnumber of components, it should be appreciated that an operator graphmay be much more complex and may include many individual operator graphsthat may be statically or dynamically linked together.

The example operator graph 500 shown in FIG. 5 includes ten processingelements (labeled as PE1-PE10) running on the compute nodes 110A-110D. Aprocessing element may include one or more stream operators fusedtogether to form an independently running process with its own processID (PID) and memory space. In cases where two (or more) processingelements are running independently, inter-process communication mayoccur using a “transport,” e.g., a network socket, a TCP/IP socket, orshared memory. Inter-process communication paths used for inter-processcommunications can be a critical resource in a stream computingapplication. However, when stream operators are fused together, thefused stream operators can use more rapid communication techniques forpassing tuples among stream operators in each processing element.

The operator graph 500 begins at a source 135 and ends at a sink 504,506. Compute node 110A includes the processing elements PE1, PE2, andPE3. Source 135 flows into the processing element PE1, which in turnoutputs tuples that are received by PE2 and PE3. For example, PE1 maysplit data attributes received in a tuple and pass some data attributesin a new tuple to PE2, while passing other data attributes in anothernew tuple to PE3. As a second example, PE1 may pass some received tuples(as new tuples) to PE2 while passing other received tuples (as newtuples) to PE3. Tuples that flow to PE2 are processed by the streamoperators contained in PE2, and the resulting new tuples are then outputto PE4 on compute node 110B. Likewise, the tuples output by PE4 flow tooperator sink PE6 504. Similarly, tuples flowing from PE3 to PE5 alsoreach (as child tuples) the operators in sink PE6 504. Thus, in additionto being a sink for this example operator graph, PE6 could be configuredto perform a join operation, combining tuples received from PE4 and PE5.This example operator graph also shows tuples flowing from PE3 to PE7 oncompute node 110C, which itself shows tuples flowing to PE8 and loopingback to PE7. Tuples output from PE8 flow to PE9 on compute node 110D,which in turn outputs tuples to be processed by operators in a sinkprocessing element, for example PE10 506.

Processing elements 235 (FIG. 2) may be configured to receive or outputtuples and tuple attributes in various formats, e.g., the processingelements or stream operators could exchange data marked up as XMLdocuments. Furthermore, each stream operator 240 within a processingelement 235 may be configured to carry out any form of data processingfunctions on received tuples, including, for example, writing todatabase tables or performing other database operations such as datajoins, splits, reads, etc., as well as performing other data analyticfunctions or operations.

The stream manager 134 of FIGS. 1 and 3 may be configured to monitor astream computing application running on compute nodes, e.g., computenodes 110A-110D, as well as to change the deployment of an operatorgraph, e.g., operator graph 132. The stream manager 134 may moveprocessing elements from one compute node 110 to another, for example,to manage the processing loads of the compute nodes 110A-110D in thecomputing infrastructure 100. Further, the stream manager 134 maycontrol the stream computing application by inserting, removing, fusing,un-fusing, or otherwise modifying the processing elements and streamoperators (or what tuples flow to the processing elements) running onthe compute nodes 110A-110D.

Because a processing element may be a collection of fused streamoperators, it is equally correct to describe an operator graph as one ormore execution paths between specific stream operators, which mayinclude execution paths to different stream operators within the sameprocessing element. FIG. 5 illustrates execution paths betweenprocessing elements for the sake of clarity.

In various embodiments, the stream manager 134 may be configured toidentify stream operators that only process an attribute of a tuple whenthe difference between a previously received and a currently receivedinstance of the attribute is outside of a difference threshold. As oneexample, a stream computing application may be an image processingapplication that includes operations for detecting and extractingfeatures from images. The stream computing application receives a streamof tuples. Each tuple includes an attribute that is an image filegenerated by an image sensor in a stationary camera trained on a scene.Thus, successive tuples contain successive digital images. Because a rawimage file may be 1 Mb or larger, the tuples may be large. The tuplesmay be passed through an operator graph with different image processingoperations being performed by different processing elements and streamoperators. In this example, a particular stream operator 240 performs anedge detection operation on a digital image, e.g., a stream operator inprocessing element PE5 in FIG. 5.

An edge detection operation identifies locations in an image where pixelvalues, such as brightness, are discontinuous, i.e., adjacent pixelschange abruptly. An edge detection operation typically examines andcompares each pixel in an image with other pixels in the sameneighborhood. Once an edge detection operation has been performed on animage captured at an initial time, e.g., a reference image, the edges inthe image are known. Accordingly, it may only be necessary tore-determine edges in subsequently captured images when the pixel valueshave changed or have changed by a significant amount. Further, it may benecessary to process only the changed pixels rather than every pixel ofthe subsequent image.

This image processing example illustrates one circumstance in which thestream manager 134 may be configured to identify stream operators thatonly process an attribute of a tuple when the difference between apreviously received and a currently received instance of the attributeis outside of a difference threshold. In various embodiments, the streammanager 134 is configured to identify that a particular stream operatorperforms an edge detection operation. The stream manager 134 determinesthat the stream operator only performs the edge detection operation whenthe difference between a previously received and a currently receivedinstance of an attribute is outside of (i.e., greater or less than) adifference threshold. In addition, the stream manager 134 may identifythat the stream operator only processes pixels that are different fromthose in the first instance of the image.

In alternative embodiments, the compiler 136 may be configured toidentify stream operators that only process an instance of an attributeof a tuple when the difference between a previously received and acurrently received instances of the first attribute is outside of adifference threshold. In addition, the compiler 136 may identify that astream operator only processes attribute differences.

For reference purposes, a stream operator that only processes anattribute of a tuple when the difference between a previously receivedand a currently received instance of the first attribute is outside of adifference threshold may be referred to as a “first” stream operator. Invarious embodiments, the stream manager 134 may be configured toidentify a “second” stream operator 240 that transmits tuples having thefirst attribute to the first stream operator. For example, a streamoperator in processing element PE5 (FIG. 5) may be identified as a firststream operator and a stream operator in processing element PE3 (FIG. 5)may be identified as a second stream operator. In an alternativeexample, a stream operator in processing element PE5 may be identifiedas a first stream operator and another stream operator in processingelement PE5 may be identified as a second stream operator. The secondstream operator may generate a difference between successive instancesof the first attribute. In addition, the second stream operator maytransmit a difference as a tuple attribute to the first stream operator.In an alternative, the second stream operator may transmit a differenceas metadata to the first stream operator.

FIG. 7 illustrates a method 700 for configuring stream operators in anoperator graph according to various embodiments. In operation 702, afirst stream operator that only processes a first attribute of a tuplewhen the difference between a previously received and a currentlyreceived instance of the first attribute is outside of a differencethreshold is identified. In operation 704, a second stream operator thattransmits tuples having the first attribute to the first stream operatoris identified. Operation 704 may include configuring the second streamoperator to generate a difference between successive instances of thefirst attribute and transmit the difference to the first streamoperator. Operation 702 may include configuring the first streamoperator to receive a reference instance of the first attribute anddifferences. Operation 702 may also include configuring the first streamoperator to generate an instance of the first attribute from thereceived reference instance of the first attribute and one or more ofthe received differences. In addition, operations 702 and 704 mayinclude inserting stream operators into an operator graph as describedbelow with reference to FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 illustrates a portion 600 of the operator graph 500 according tovarious embodiments. FIG. 6 shows stream operators that may be containedin processing elements PE3 and PE5. A first stream operator SO1 may becontained in processing element PE5 and a second stream operator SO2 maybe contained in processing element PE3. The first stream operator SO1may be identified as only processing an attribute of a tuple when thedifference between a previously received and a currently receivedinstance of the first attribute is outside of a difference threshold.The second stream operator SO2 may be identified as a stream operatorthat transmits tuples having the first attribute to the first streamoperator. According to various embodiments, a stream operator, e.g.,SO3, may be inserted into the operator graph 500 to receive output fromthe second stream operator SO2. The inserted stream operator SO3 may beplaced in processing element PE3. In addition, a stream operator, e.g.,SO4, may be inserted into the operator graph 500 to receive output fromstream operator SO3. The inserted stream operator SO4 may be placed inprocessing element PE5. These stream operators SO3 and SO4 may beinserted into the operator graph 500 by the stream manager 134 or thecompiler 136.

In operation, the stream operator SO3 may receive a tuple containing aninstance the first attribute from SO2 and transmit a new tuple having aninstance of the first attribute to the stream operator SO4. Thisinstance may be designated as reference instance. In addition, thestream operator SO3 may store a copy of the reference instance of thefirst attribute in a log file 60. The reference instance of the firstattribute may be an instance of the first attribute captured or createdat an initial time. Continuing the above example, the reference instanceof the first attribute may be an image file captured at an initial time.The stream operator SO3 may also transmit differences to the streamoperator SO4. The stream operator SO3 may determine a difference from afirst attribute that is currently received from SO2 and the copy of thereference instance of the first attribute in a log file 60. The streamoperator SO3 may determine a new difference each time it receives a newtuple having an instance of the first attribute from SO2. In anembodiment, the reference instance of the first attribute in the logfile 60 may be updated each time SO3 receives a tuple and differencesmay be determined from pre-update reference attribute instances. In analternative embodiment, the reference instance of the first attribute inthe log file 60 is not updated each time SO3 receives a tuple anddifferences are determined from the original reference instance of thefirst attribute. In this alternative, the reference instance of thefirst attribute in the log file 60 may be updated periodically or inresponse to a condition or an event. The stream operator SO3 maytransmit differences between successive instances of the first attributeof tuples to the stream operator SO4. In an alternative embodiment, thestream operator SO3 may transmit a difference between a receivedinstance of the first attribute and the reference instance of the firstattribute to the stream operator SO4. In the above example where thereference attribute is an image file, a difference attribute may includean identification of which pixels are changed from a previous image fileand the values of the changed pixels.

In an embodiment, the stream operator SO3 may determine whether adifference is outside of a difference threshold and only transmit to SO4a tuple having a difference attribute when the difference is outside ofthe difference threshold.

FIG. 8 illustrates a method 800 for generating difference attributes ina stream computing application according to various embodiments. Inoperation 802, a reference instance of the first attribute istransmitted to a first stream operator. In addition, a copy of thereference instance of the first attribute is stored in a log file 60.The reference instance of the first attribute is a full instance of thefirst attribute. The reference instance of the first attribute may becaptured or created at an initial or selected time. In operation 804, adifference is generated from an instance of the first attribute in acurrently received tuple and the copy of the reference instance of thefirst attribute in the log file. In optional operation 806, it isdetermined whether the difference is outside of a difference threshold.If optional operation 806 is included in the method 800, then inoperation 808, the difference is transmitted to the first streamoperator when the difference is outside of the difference threshold.Otherwise, the difference is not transmitted to the first streamoperator. If optional operation 806 is not included in the method 800,the difference is transmitted to the first stream operator afteroperation 804.

Referring again to FIG. 6, upon receipt of tuple containing a referenceinstance of the first attribute, the stream operator SO4 may store thereference instance of the first attribute in a log file 62. Upon receiptof a difference, the stream operator SO4 may use the received differenceand the stored reference instance of first attribute to generate anotherinstance of the attribute. This generated instance of the firstattribute may be substantially the same as the instance of the firstattribute from which the received difference was generated. In anembodiment, the stream operator SO4 may update the stored referenceinstance of the first attribute each time a difference attribute isreceived. In another embodiment, the stream operator SO4 may store oneor more received difference attributes in the log file 62 along with thereference instance of the attribute. The stream operator SO4 may use areceived difference attribute, one or more stored difference attributes,and the stored reference instance of the first attribute to generateanother instance of the first attribute. In the example above, areference instance of an image captured at an arbitrary initial time and120 successive difference attributes for the image may be combined togenerate, i.e., reconstruct, a copy of the image captured five secondsafter the reference instance was captured. In an embodiment, the streamoperator SO4 may transmit a tuple having the generated instance of thefirst attribute to the stream operator SO1. In another embodiment, thestream operator SO4 may only transmit a tuple having the generatedinstance of the first attribute to the stream operator SO1 when areceived difference attribute is outside of a difference threshold. Inyet another embodiment, the stream operator SO4 may transmit a tuplehaving a received difference attribute to the stream operator SO1 whenSO1 only processes differences between successive instances of the firstattribute.

FIG. 9 illustrates a method 900 for receiving difference attributes in astream computing application according to various embodiments. Inoperation 902, a reference instance of the first attribute is receivedfrom a second stream operator at a first stream operator. In addition, acopy of the reference instance of the first attribute is stored at thefirst stream operator, e.g., in the log file 62. In operation 904, adifference attribute is received from the second stream operator at thefirst stream operator. In optional operation 906, it may be determinedwhether the received difference attribute is outside of a differencethreshold. In an embodiment, the operations 908 and 910 are performedwhen the difference attribute is outside of the difference threshold.Otherwise, the method 900 terminates. In operation 908, the receiveddifference attribute and the stored reference instance of the firstattribute are used to generate another instance of the first attribute.In operation 910, the generated instance of the first attribute, whichmay be the full attribute, is processed. In an alternative embodiment,the optional operation 906 is omitted and the operations 908 and 910 areperformed for each received difference attribute.

FIG. 10 illustrates an alternative method 1000 for receiving tupledifference attributes in a stream computing application according tovarious embodiments. Operations 1002 and 1004 may be the same asoperations 902 and 904. Optional operation 1006 may be the same asoperation 906. Unlike the method 900, the alternative method 1000 doesnot include an operation in which a full instance of the first attributeis generated or reconstructed. In optional operation 1006, it may bedetermined whether the received difference attribute is outside of adifference threshold. In an embodiment, the difference attribute isprocessed (operation 1008) when the difference attribute is outside ofthe difference threshold. Otherwise, the method 1000 terminates. In analternative embodiment, the optional operation 1006 is omitted and thedifference attribute is processed each time a difference attribute isreceived.

Referring again to FIG. 6, an embodiment is shown in which the streamoperator SO3 is inserted into an operator graph to determine andtransmit differences. In an alternative to that shown in FIG. 6, thestream operator SO2 may be configured to perform these operationsinstead of stream operator SO3. Similarly, FIG. 6 illustrates anembodiment in which the stream operator SO4 is inserted into an operatorgraph to receive differences and a reference instance of the firstattribute, and to generate new instances of the attribute. In analternative to that shown in FIG. 6, instead of inserting the streamoperator SO4, the stream operator SO1 may be configured to perform theseoperations.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment in which a first stream operator (SO1or SO4) and second stream operator (either SO2 or SO3) are in differentprocessing elements on different compute nodes coupled via a singlelink. In an alternative embodiment, the first and second processingelements may be coupled via two or more links and one or more computenodes. In another alternative embodiment, the first and secondprocessing elements may be on the same compute node.

As described above with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, a second streamoperator (either SO2 or SO3) transmits a new tuple having a referenceinstance of the first attribute to the stream operator SO4. Thereference instance of the first attribute is the entire attribute. In anembodiment, a tuple containing a reference instance of the firstattribute may be transmitted periodically by a second stream operator.Alternatively, a tuple containing a reference instance of the firstattribute may be transmitted by the second stream operator in responseto a request. For example, the stream operator SO4 or SO1, or the streammanager 134 may request that a reference instance of the first attributebe transmitted. As another example, the stream manager 134 may insert aprocessing element into the operator graph 500. The operator graph 500may be an “initial” operator graph defined at a first time and theprocessing element (or stream operator) is dynamically added to theoperator graph at a second time subsequent to the first time. Theinserted processing element may request that a reference instance of thefirst attribute be transmitted to it. The phrase “reference instance” isused in this Detailed Description and in the Claims for referencepurposes and not to designate a single instance. In operation, there maybe multiple “reference instances.”

In another embodiment, a processing element (or stream operator) may bedormant for a period of time. For example, a processing element thatonly processes a first attribute when the difference between successivefirst attributes is outside of a threshold may enter a dormant mode. Theprocessing element may enter a dormant mode under circumstances in whichit does not receive attribute differences for a particular period oftime. The processing element may enter a dormant mode, e.g., to conservepower. When the processing element “wakes up” and leaves the dormantmode, it may request that a reference instance of the first attribute betransmitted to it. Alternatively, when the processing element wakes up,it may simply wait for a reference instance of the first attribute betransmitted to it before it resumes processing.

An alternative embodiment may include transmitting a full attribute whenthe difference between successive attributes is large. A first streamoperator may be identified. The first stream operator may be one thatonly processes an instance of a first attribute in a currently receivedtuple when a difference between an instance of the first attribute in apreviously received tuple and the instance of the first attribute in thecurrently received tuple is outside of a difference threshold. In thisalternative, a second stream operator may be configured to determine anestimate of resource usage required to determine a difference attribute.The difference attribute may be determined from a first instance of thefirst attribute in a first one of the tuples and a second instance ofthe first attribute in a second one of the tuples. The first and secondtuples are received at the second stream operator. The second streamoperator may be further configured to determine whether the estimate ofresource usage is outside of a resource usage threshold. If the estimateof resource usage is outside the resource usage threshold, the secondstream operator transmits the full second instance of the firstattribute of the second tuple from the second stream operator to thefirst stream operator. This embodiment balances the amount of processingrequired against potential network bandwidth savings. Where resources,such as processing cycles or memory accesses, needed to determine adifference are estimated to be relatively large, the full attribute istransmitted rather than the difference. If the estimate of resourceusage is within (or inside) the resource usage threshold, the differencebetween successive attributes may be transmitted to the first streamoperator.

In the exemplary operations described above with reference to FIG. 6, areference instance of a first attribute and difference attributesgenerated from successive instances of the first attribute aretransmitted. In alternative embodiments, the exemplary operationsdescribed in this Detailed Description and in the Claims may be employedwith two or more attributes. For example, a first attribute may be animage file and second attribute may be a numeric attribute. A firststream operator may be identified that only processes the firstattribute when the difference between a previously received and acurrently received instance of the first attribute is outside of a firstdifference threshold. Another stream operator may be identified thatonly processes the second attribute when the difference between apreviously received and a currently received instance of the secondattribute is outside of a second difference threshold. Referenceinstances of the first and second attributes and difference attributesgenerated respectively from successive instances of first and secondattributes may be transmitted between appropriate stream operators.

In an embodiment, the stream manager 134 is configured to monitor astream computing application and to determine performance metrics forthe application. One performance metric the stream manager 134 maydetermine is the latency on a link between compute nodes. The streammanager 134 may determine that the latency of a link is such that thecapacity or performance of the stream computing application is limited.If the latency of a link is outside of a latency threshold, the streammanager 134 may determine whether the size of any attributes of tuplessent over the link are above a size threshold. This size determinationmay be made in any suitable manner, such as calculating an average sizeof an attribute for a particular number of tuples. In addition, thestream manager 134 may determine for an attribute found to be over asize threshold whether the attribute does not change for a period oftime, or changes slowly or by a small degree over time. In addition, thestream manager 134 may determine for an attribute found to be over thesize threshold whether the attribute remains constant for a period oftime or only changes in small increments. In other words, the streammanager 134 may determine whether instances of an attribute vary lessthan (or inside of) a variability threshold. Whether an attributechanges slowly, changes in small increments, or does not change forperiod of time may be determined by sampling attributes sent over thelink for a particular time period. When it is determined that thelatency of a link is outside of a latency threshold, an attribute oftuples transmitted over the link is over a size threshold, and instancesof the attribute vary less than a variability threshold, one or more ofthe methods 700, 800, 900, or 1000 may be performed.

FIG. 11 illustrates a method 1100 for determining whether to deploy oneor more of the methods 700, 800, 900, or 1000 in a stream computingapplication according to various embodiments. In operation 1102, it isdetermined whether the latency of an inter-process communication path isoutside of a latency threshold. One example of an inter-processcommunication path is the link between PE3 and PE5 (FIG. 5). If thelatency is outside of the latency threshold, operation 1104 is nextperformed. Otherwise, the method 1100 ends. In operation 1104, it isdetermined whether tuples sent over a particular inter-processcommunication path have any attributes that are above a size threshold.One example of a size threshold is 1 Mb. If a particular number orproportion of the attributes is above the size threshold, operation 1106is next performed. Otherwise, the method 1100 ends. In operation 1106,it is determined whether instances of the attribute over the sizethreshold typically vary in an amount below a variability threshold. Forexample, if the attribute is an image and fewer than five percent of thepixels change in successive instances of the image, the attribute mayvary in amount below a variability threshold. If there is an over-sizedattribute below the variability threshold, operation 1108 is nextperformed. Otherwise, the method 1100 ends. In operation 1108, one ormore of the methods 700, 800, 900, or 1000 are deployed in a streamcomputing application.

In another embodiment, the stream manager 134 may dynamically add astream operator to an operator graph. The stream manager 134 adds thestream operator to the operator graph via an inter-process communicationpath. The stream manager 134 may perform the method 1100 to determinewhether to employ one or more of the methods 700, 800, 900, or 1000 withrespect to the added stream operator. The added stream operator may beidentified as a first stream operator.

In various embodiments, a developer may recognize that a particularstream operator is suitable for use with one or more of the methods 700,800, 900, or 1000. A developer may configure particular stream operatorsas first and second stream operators, as these terms are used in thisDetailed Description and in the Claims, and deploy one or more of themethods 700, 800, 900, or 1000.

In the foregoing, reference is made to various embodiments. It should beunderstood, however, that this disclosure is not limited to thespecifically described embodiments. Instead, any combination of thedescribed features and elements, whether related to differentembodiments or not, is contemplated to implement and practice thisdisclosure. Furthermore, although embodiments of this disclosure mayachieve advantages over other possible solutions or over the prior art,whether or not a particular advantage is achieved by a given embodimentis not limiting of this disclosure. Thus, the described aspects,features, embodiments, and advantages are merely illustrative and arenot considered elements or limitations of the appended claims exceptwhere explicitly recited in a claim(s).

Aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied as a system, method,or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the presentdisclosure may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, anentirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software,micro-code, etc.), or an embodiment combining software and hardwareaspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,”“module,” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present disclosuremay take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or morecomputer readable medium(s) having computer readable program codeembodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination thereof. More specificexamples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage mediumwould include the following: an electrical connection having one or morewires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory(RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-onlymemory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compactdisc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magneticstorage device, or any suitable combination thereof. In the context ofthis disclosure, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangiblemedium that can contain, or store, a program for use by or in connectionwith an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wire line, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combinationthereof.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent disclosure may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including: (a) an object oriented programminglanguage; (b) conventional procedural programming languages; and (c) astreams programming language, such as IBM Streams Processing Language(SPL). The program code may execute as specifically described herein. Inaddition, the program code may execute entirely on the user's computer,partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partlyon the user's computer and partly on a remote computer, or entirely onthe remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remotecomputer may be connected to the user's computer through any type ofnetwork, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network(WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (forexample, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

Aspects of the present disclosure have been described with reference toflowchart illustrations, block diagrams, or both, of methods,apparatuses (systems), and computer program products according toembodiments of this disclosure. It will be understood that each block ofthe flowchart illustrations or block diagrams, and combinations ofblocks in the flowchart illustrations or block diagrams, can beimplemented by computer program instructions. These computer programinstructions may be provided to a processor of a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions,which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functionsor acts specified in the flowchart or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function or act specified in the flowchart or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus, or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions or acts specified in the flowchart or blockdiagram block or blocks.

Embodiments according to this disclosure may be provided to end-usersthrough a cloud-computing infrastructure. Cloud computing generallyrefers to the provision of scalable computing resources as a serviceover a network. More formally, cloud computing may be defined as acomputing capability that provides an abstraction between the computingresource and its underlying technical architecture (e.g., servers,storage, networks), enabling convenient, on-demand network access to ashared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidlyprovisioned and released with minimal management effort or serviceprovider interaction. Thus, cloud computing allows a user to accessvirtual computing resources (e.g., storage, data, applications, and evencomplete virtualized computing systems) in “the cloud,” without regardfor the underlying physical systems (or locations of those systems) usedto provide the computing resources.

Typically, cloud-computing resources are provided to a user on apay-per-use basis, where users are charged only for the computingresources actually used (e.g., an amount of storage space used by a useror a number of virtualized systems instantiated by the user). A user canaccess any of the resources that reside in the cloud at any time, andfrom anywhere across the Internet. In context of the present disclosure,a user may access applications or related data available in the cloud.For example, the nodes used to create a stream computing application maybe virtual machines hosted by a cloud service provider. Doing so allowsa user to access this information from any computing system attached toa network connected to the cloud (e.g., the Internet).

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams or flowchart illustration,can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems thatperform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of specialpurpose hardware and computer instructions.

Although embodiments are described within the context of a streamcomputing application, this is not the only context relevant to thepresent disclosure. Instead, such a description is without limitationand is for illustrative purposes only. Additional embodiments may beconfigured to operate with any computer system or application capable ofperforming the functions described herein. For example, embodiments maybe configured to operate in a clustered environment with a standarddatabase processing application. A multi-nodal environment may operatein a manner that effectively processes a stream of tuples. For example,some embodiments may include a large database system, and a query of thedatabase system may return results in a manner similar to a stream ofdata.

While the foregoing is directed to exemplary embodiments, other andfurther embodiments of the disclosure may be devised without departingfrom the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof is determined by theclaims that follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer program product for processing tupleson one or more computer processors, each tuple having one or moreattributes, the computer program product comprising a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium having program instructions embodiedtherewith, the program instructions executable by a computer processorto cause the computer processor to perform a method comprising:receiving at one of one or more processing elements a sequence of two ormore tuples to be processed by the one or more processing elements, eachprocessing element having one or more stream operators; identifying thata first stream operator only processes an instance of a first attributein a currently received tuple when a difference between an instance ofthe first attribute in a previously received tuple and the instance ofthe first attribute in the currently received tuple is outside of adifference threshold; generating, at a second stream operator, a firstdifference attribute from a first instance of the first attribute and asecond instance of the first attribute; determining whether the firstdifference attribute is outside of the difference threshold;transmitting the first difference attribute from the second streamoperator to the first stream operator when the first differenceattribute is outside of the difference threshold; configuring the firststream operator to receive reference instances of the first attributeand difference attributes; and entering a dormant mode, at the firststream operator, when the first stream operator does not receive adifference attribute for a particular period of time.
 2. The computerprogram product of claim 1, the program instructions configured to causethe processor to perform a method further comprising requesting that areference instance of the first attribute be transmitted to the firststream operator when the first stream operator leaves the dormant mode.3. The computer program product of claim 2, the program instructionsconfigured to cause the processor to perform a method further comprisingtransmitting the reference instance of the first attribute to the firststream operator.
 4. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein thereference instance of the first attribute is substantially the same asthe first instance of the first attribute.
 5. A system for processingtuples with one or more computer processor circuits, each tuple havingone or more attributes, the system comprising: a plurality of processingelements operating on the one or more computer processor circuits, eachprocessing element configured to receive and process a sequence of twoor more tuples and having one or more stream operators, the plurality ofprocessing elements including first and second processing elements; atleast one non-transitory computer-readable memory electrically coupledto the one or more computer processor circuits; and a stream managercomprising a set of computer program instructions stored in the at leastone non-transitory computer-readable memory and executed by the one ormore computer processor circuits in order to perform a methodcomprising: identifying that a second stream operator transmits tupleshaving a first attribute to a first stream operator; identifying thatthe first stream operator only processes an instance of a firstattribute in a currently received tuple when a difference between aninstance of the first attribute in a previously received tuple and theinstance of the first attribute in the currently received tuple isoutside of a difference threshold; generating, at the second streamoperator, a first difference attribute from a first instance of thefirst attribute and a second instance of the first attribute;determining whether the first difference attribute is outside of thedifference threshold; transmitting the first difference attribute fromthe second stream operator to the first stream operator when the firstdifference attribute is outside of the difference threshold; configuringthe first stream operator to receive reference instances of the firstattribute and difference attributes; and entering a dormant mode, at thefirst stream operator, when the first stream operator does not receive adifference attribute for a particular period of time.
 6. The system ofclaim 5, the stream manager configured to perform a method furthercomprising requesting that a reference instance of the first attributebe transmitted to the first stream operator when the first streamoperator leaves the dormant mode.
 7. The system of claim 6, the streammanager configured to perform a method further comprising transmittingthe reference instance of the first attribute to the first streamoperator.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein the reference instance ofthe first attribute is substantially the same as the first instance ofthe first attribute.